Today we got the results of the TF-testes, and 7 of our 9 cats are free of this paracite. Of course we are very happy about this result, but so sad that not all of them are negative. The 2 cats that has this paracite still is Puma and Lion-O. Lion-O was supposed to go to Italy next Sunday, but I guess that Gianni does not want to take him now. We do not know what to do with Puma and Lion-O, this situation is new for us and we need time to think and discuss it.

Lion-O did it again! He has a guest in his room, our siamese variant girl Lina. Two minutes after Lina came to his room, the first mating was a reality! They have mated several times today and we hope for a litter of beautiful balinese kittens. Since Lina is a variant, they could get both balinese and siamese variants. But of course we hope for balineses! In our earlier litters between a longhair and a variant, we have been very lucky, the first one of 4 kittens 3 was balineses and 1 a variant. The next litter of 7 kittens 5 was balinese and 2 variants. The third litter of 4 kittens, 2 died before we was sure of the coat, the 2 kittens who survived was both variants. The fourth litter of 3 kittens all 3 kittens was balinese! Lina was 1 year on the 16th of May, and she has not had any problems with her uterus or her fertility and we know that Lion-O can do a great job as a breeding male since Freja already has a quite nice belly    So chances are quite high that these matings will lead to a litter of rather nice kittens with a super pedigree! If these matings are a success, the kittens are due in week 29/30.

Yesterday we visited Jagara and her fostermum to check out Jagara and to find out if she was pregnant. Her nipples was not very pink, but they have grown a bit. Her belly was quite hard and a bit larger than normal. She eats a lot more than she used to do, and she do not play any longer. So chances are very high that she is pregnant! If she is, her litter is expected in week 26 -  at the end of June   

Freja is doing well, her tummy is bigger and more rounded than it use to be and we know that there is at least 3 kittens in it! Her kittens will be born in week 24  

So we are taking some chances now, since we still have not got the results of the TF-testes.......

This time we have 5 cats that needed a vet`s help. Usually we will put them together in the large cage, but since we do not know yet wether they are negative or positive for TF, we have to use one cage for each cat. And today Finn-Ove was not able to go with me    Thanks to Heidi, Diana and Hilde all cats came safely in to the vet`s office and back in the car again. This time was a routine visit - one of the very few visits during the last year that did not cause anxiety   All 5 needed to refresh their vaccinations, Vinnie needed to be tested for FIV/FeLV (we always do this before mating) and we wanted to check out Freja regarding her PYO. The vet could confirm that she is pregnant and there is no sign of a PYO or vaginitis   Vinnie behaved very well when they took the bloodsample from his right front leg, but he did not agree in a shot   I really like a vet that tries to get a bloodsample from the leg of the cat instead of the neck. Hilde did not even shave his leg before using the needle! Well done Hilde!

We have realized that it will not be any cat shows for us this year either. Even if the cats are tested negative for TF, we will not go to any shows   The simple reason is that we do not have a cat that can be shown...... Lion-O is moving in the beginning of June, the same is Bart and Prille. Freja is pregnant, Muffin needs to loose at least 1 kg, he is really fat     Puma is not in showcondition, Bumpy & Lina does not have a show quality, and S*Milliminas Disa is not moving to us as planned. Vinnie has really yellow eyes, so we will not show him at any cat show. We just have to wait for bether times - maybe next year? This means we will have three years without cat shows........ And for the first time we have booked plane tickets and hotel to go to SWS   But that`s life, things do not always be like we want them to be. Maybe this year we finally will be able to build the large cat-run we have planned since before we moved here?

FIN*Sultsinan Simply the Best (SYS b 03) has mated our balinese female (N) Bekmørtnans Jagara (BAL f), and now we are impatient waiting to see if this mating has been a success    If it is a succes, the kittens should be born in week 26/12.

The mother and her best friend, (N) Bekmørtnans Narani (SIA f var):

This pic is from 22nd July 2011

The father:

I really hope we will have some nice variants at the end of June   

Today we checked Frejas nipples, and now we are sure she is pregnant. I have been in a emotional rollercoster the last weeks, struggling with the desicion wether we should let Freja abort her kittens if she was pregnant or let her have them. So far Freja looks healthy and happy, and there is no sign of Pyo, fever or discharge from her vagina. She should have been treated with Ronidazole, but we have decided to wait with this until her kittens are old enough to be treated - if everything goes well and she will have strong and healthy kittens. It is a long road ahead, but we have had so many sorrows and difficulties for some time so I choose to be positive and cross my fingers for Freja and her kittens! I need something nice to concentrate on, to manage to go on further.We need you to hold your thumbs for her!

A little pink nipple

Yesterday Finn-Ove gave the cats their last pill with Ronidazole, and now we will wait for 14 days and then gather droppings from each cat and send them to a lab to be tested. We need you to hold your thumbs for negative TF-testes!

Today we took Vinnie to an ophthalmologist and she could confirm what both Finn-Ove and I was quite sure of - Vinnies eyes are already affected of PRA. About half of each eye has damages in the retina. I think www.pawpeds.com has a splendid short and easy to understand, description of PRA.

"Progressive retinal atrophy, or PRA as it is frequently termed, is a hereditary eye disorder. It is inherited as a simple autosomal recessive in most breeds. PRA has been recognized in humans, in most purebred dogs and some breeds of cats.

PRA is a disease of the retina, a tissue that is located inside the back of the eye. The retina contains specialized cells called photoreceptors. These absorb the light focused on them by the eye's lens, and convert the light into electrical nerve signals. The nerve signals are passed by the optic nerve to the brain where they are perceived as vision. In PRA in Abyssinian and Somali cats, the photoreceptors degenerate gradually.

Early in the disease, night vision deteriorates as the cat will face increased problems adjusting its vision to dim light. Later in the process, daytime vision also fails. As the retina degenerates it gets thinner and light will be strongly reflected (hyper reflection). At the same time the pupils become increasingly dilated, in a vain attempt to gather more light, causing a noticeable "shine" to their eyes. The lens may become cloudy, or opaque, resulting in a cataract. Total blindness occurs typically at around 4-5 years but could be delayed for several years.

Affected cats will adapt to their handicap as long as their environment remains constant, and they are not faced with situations requiring excellent vision.

Diagnosis of PRA is normally made by ophthalmoscopic examination. This requires dilatation of the pupil by application of eyedrops. PRA can be diagnosed by ophthalmoscopic changes: increased reflectivity (shininess) of the fundus (the inside of the back of the eye, overlain by the retina); reduction in the diameter and branching pattern of the retina's blood vessels; and shrinking of the optic nerve head (the nerve connecting the retina to the brain).

As there is now a DNA test for the rdAc mutation (causing the most common PRA), one also knows that a cat with double set of this recessive gene (the rdAc) will develop PRA, although there may be no signs at an ophthalmoscopic examination."

Vinnie is 1 year old in 2 days, and he is one of the cats who will develop total blindness at a young age.

Our dear Freja was diagnosed with a uterus infection a couple a weeks ago. We choosed to take a test of the pus, and started treatment with Synolux and Alizin. She was better, but she got in heat after a week on medicine. We discussed with more experienced breeders what to do, and they adviced us to let her mate since we wanted to have her as a breeding female. She mated Lion-O on the 9th of April, and we have hoped for her to be pregnant. Today the vet called us, the result of Freja`s test were ready. She has E-Coli and it is resistant to most of the medicine there is, ecxept Tetracyclines. And this type of medicine can not be used during pregnancies. There are sadly only a small chance that she will be able to fullfill the pregnancy, it is more likely that she will have an abortion. If the kittens are born, they might be having severe defects, and the E-Coli infection will probably kill them if they survive the pregnancy and delivery. But we can`t do anuthing about this situation, we just have to wait and to monitor Freja as much as possible. Her uterus infection is very likely to develop since she has not had a proper treatment. We do not know how to find strenght to cope with what`s ahead of us, we just hope that Freja will be ok in the end.

We have started the treatment against Tritrichomonas round 2, and all the cats are isolated besides Bart & Honeybump that are placed in the small catroom at the first floor. Freja is placed in the large catroom downstairs, but we will not treat her with Ronidazole because she migth be pregnant. We will treat her with Ronidazole later on, when everything has settled down a bit for her. In the meantime she will not be able to close physical contact with other cats, but that is the way it have to be now.

Freja today in her new enclosure

My son Ole Martin and a friend of my daughter Marie - Lars - has built enclosures in the largest catroom downstairs. The room is devided in 6 parts, and we have used mesh as walls. This way the cats are able to see eachother and to hear sounds from eachother, but there will be no opportunity to close contact and therefor it`s not likely that they could reinfect eachother. They will be isolated untill we got negative results of the tests for TF. This will be looooong weeks....

Our carpenters - Lars & Ole Martin

Thank you so much! This would not be possible without your help!

Ole Martin completed the enclosures last weekend, thank you again, Ole Martin!

The start of the building process

They used scruws to fasten the wood in the ceiling. On the floor and the walls they used double-sided tape since we did not want to make holes in the wooden floor and the brick walls.

And then the mesh.....

The cats moved in yesterday. They do not have as large enclosure as we want them to have, but they must cope for a while, this is the best we can do for now.

Lion-O

Prille is just hiding  

Puma, Lina & Freja

Puma

This time we got the Ronidazole as a powder, and we had to put this in capsules ourselves. Luckily this was very easy since Finn-Ove took a peek on Ebay, there are a lot of things and some of them quite useful! He bought a small scale, a capsule machin and capsules and suddenly my carpenter-son has changed profession - now to a pharmacist!

This way we saved thousands of Norwegian kroner!

The capsules are quite big, but Finn-Ove is VERY clever when it comes to give the cats their medicine. And now we hope for none sideeffects and a successfull treatment!

Our dear Freja is in heat again, and because of her PYO we have chosen to let her mate. She is now together with Lion-O, and if this is a success we will have some nice variants in the middle of June    I guess we will not be able to go to the cat-show at Finnsnes either. We have already lost two shows this year because of the TF, and now the third one maybe inpossible to go to. But to have a litter can be really nice if only they can stay healthy. We are crossing our fingers, can you do the same for us?

Freja, who will be 1 year in two days

Lion-O, 18 months